collaborative art in curiosity show

My friend Amy Kuttab is curating an art show called Curiosity Cabinet. I worked on three collaborative drawings for the show with Amy and Sean Christensen. We each started a piece, then passed them around to each other until the one we had started reached us again. Then we each finished the piece we had started. Above is the one that I started and finished.

This is the one that Sean started and finished. I still haven't gotten to see Amy's yet, but it was looking amazing last time I saw it. These two are so much fun to collaborate with!

The Curiosity Clusters from my previous post were spontaneously made for the show as well. I've been so busy though, I don't know if I'll be able to get the piece downtown in time. If not, I'll just go to the show wearing it on my forehead.

The show is @ Pony Club Gallery. 625 Everett #105, Portland, OR. The opening is Thursday the 5th, 6pm-10pm.

Three curiosity clusters for your inspection.

The Quiet Family

It's been a busy summer so far. I'm working on a number of exciting illustration jobs right now (which I'll post about further on) and getting ready for the big wedding day, so there hasn't been much time to work on my comic, "The Quiet Family". I'm still filling notebooks with notes and doodles whenever I have a spare moment; gearing up for when I can submerge myself in the story again. The whole proect feels like a weird puzzle I'm trying to put together in the back of my head. The pieces seem to be inching closer everyday, and I'm trying to just be patient and enjoy the slow motion process. The top picture is from one of my many notebooks and the second picture is an actual page from the comic.

Heather and I are getting married soon!!

Thank you monster / free print

I've been really into leaving these silkscreens around. This one is pinned to a picnic table where I sat and drew for awhile today. It felt like I was collaborating with whoever did the graffiti on the table top. It's in the same park as the cement shrine from the last post. I figure whoever finds them and wants them can take them home.

new limited edition print!

I just got done signing and numbering a new limited edition poster that Secret Acres is putting out. I loaded them up in a box and they're on their way to the Secret Acres online shop at this very moment. They're already available for pre-order, for anyone interested. it's a limited edition of 250. 18x24 inches on heavy stock paper: http://www.secretacres.com/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=93
I'm really happy with how it turned out, and the image itself has a lot to do with the new comics I'm making.

Print Show at Giant Robot, NY

I did a limited edition print for the Giant Robot Print Show that's opening in a couple of days. The top photo is of the print I made, taken while they were still drying. I added hand-drawn elements to each of them later. There's a great list of artists involved. Check out the awesome card image by my friend, Daria Tessler.

Ghosts for sale

I had lots of fun at the Grass Hut gallery opening last night! The pieces from the show are now up for adoption: http://grasshutcorp.com/blog/?page_id=3&category=47

Let me introduce you to some ghosts

This ghost was completely invisible just a few days ago. He walked through the walls of my apartment and asked me to build him a body so people could see him dance. He is a Ghost Dancer!

This is an Awake Statue. although statues cannot move, when they are awake they can travel over the invisible landscapes that overlap our own. He also has a tiny library inside of his head which can only be visited by insects.

This is a vacant lot spirit. If someone builds something on the vacant lot that it haunts, it becomes something else.
This is a time traveler. He cannot exist in the present, but you can sometimes catch glimpses of him if you're thinking about the past or the future.
This is artie milderhoffen (not his real name) but he will respond to any name you call him when he is in dog form, which he usually is nowadays.

This is a howling ghost hound. It likes to sit by your head while you're sleeping and howl. It's howl does not emit any sound. Instead, it makes things quieter.

You can meet them all in person and communicate with them on subliminal levels tonight from 6-9 pm at Grass Hut.

Some Ghosts I have known

I just got home from hanging a show of woodcut characters at Grass Hut. The Opening is July 1st from 6-9 pm at 20 NW avenue, Portland Oregon. I will be there.

It's a split show with awesome illustrator Tim Biskup and his 7 year old daughter Tigerlily. I can't wait to see their pieces!

The show will be up for sale at http://www.grasshutcorp.com/ you can also find out more about the show and other great art happenings going on in Portland at http://www.hungryeyeball.com/

Print show @ Pony Club Gallery

A few posts ago, I showed how I blocked out the different layers for a screen print. Here's what they look like as they're actually being printed in color:Layer one

Layer twoLayer three (and my thumb!)
and layer four...you can tell I took this last photo on a different day, because the light's totally different. inconsistency!

I ended up not being totally happy with how the layers came together, so I decided to add hand drawn elements to each print. There's 15 total. The first 10 will be on sale at the Pony club Gallery print show. The opening goes from 6-10ish pm on July First, at 625 NW Everett #105 Portland, OR. http://www.ponyclubpdx.com/ .Check out the awesome show card by cartoonist Lilli Carre:

Thank You monsters, Dinosaurs, and Bro time.

I had an excellent time hanging out with my brother, Matt this last Friday, when I had a free day in San Francisco. We walked all over the city and talked about everything that we like to talk about. I had some silkscreen prints with me that I'd just made and I decided to leave them in various locations throughout the day. Maybe people found them and took them home.I also found a rubber dinosaur on the ground that day and it felt like good luck. According to the writing on it's wings, it is a Pteranodon and was born in China. It rode in my pocket for the rest of the trip.

Sacramento comics festival

I'll be a special guest at Indy Euphoria in Sacramento this coming Sunday. It should be a fun show and I'm looking forwards to the road trip with friends and fellow comics people, Dylan Williams and Austin English (though Austin won't be at the actual show, unfortunately). I'll be selling the very last copies of the first print run of Capacity as well as the very last 3 Capacity posters, plus all sorts of other stuff. I've made a special silk screen print that comes with the final copies. I'll probably be leaving some in random places for people to find while we're on the road too, because I've decided that I need to do more things like that. If you're in the area, come say hi! I like to meet people.

My Brother's Website!

My brother, Matt recently graduated from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. His final project was a stop-motion animated film, where he basically created every aspect of the piece. His film turned out incredible! I got my copy in the mail and I've watched it over and over. At some point you should be able to watch the whole thing online. For now though, you can see a bunch of great process shots he took while making the film as well as a trailer showing peeks at the some of the work he did in school: www.ellsworthanimation.com

Someday we're planning on collaborating in some way. For now though, I'm just excited to see his next idea take shape. Next week I'll be in his neighborhood and we'll get to hang out for a couple of days before I head to a comics festival in Sacramento.

screen print separations

I just finished the separations for a new screen print I'm making. I figure out the color separations by hand, using layers of tracing paper. Most screen prints I've made have been simple 2 color images, so it was fun figuring out something slightly more complex. I was kind of fascinated by the way the different layers ended up looking on their own.Layer-4

Layer-3 Layer-2
Layer-1

Park Report

I went to the park the other day and I sat in the grass and drew a picture.

I looked really closely at some red and yellow helicopter seed pods and carried them around with me for awhile.

I decided to suddenly start running down a big hill.
I ran past a bunch of trees. My vision was bouncy and my feet sounded loud.

I didn't stop running for awhile.

altered change

I've heard that you're not suppose to draw on money, but there was nothing else to draw on while I was waiting for my food. I would like to think that George would understand. I'm going to spend the dollar soon, and someone in Portland will eventually get it as change. Maybe it will be someone I know.

decorative border

I've been working on a large decorative border for my friends Aimee and Lonnie's wedding. It's going to be a certificate that all the guests sign as witnesses. It felt like a huge honor to be asked to do this, so I'm trying to do a really nice job on it. I keep having to stop myself from adding little funny creatures everywhere. Hopefully when it's done it'll look like a page from an old illuminated manuscript or something. That's what I'm going for anyways. I've been working on it a little bit each day.

Olympia Comics Fest

Saturday the 5th, I'll be up in Olympia, Washington for their comics festival. I've never been to it before and I've been hearing good things. From 3-3:45 I'll be doing a panel talk. Dylan Williams from Sparkplug comics is going to interview Austin English and myself, then we'll answer questions from the audience. It should be fun. Dylan's always an insightful and interesting person to talk to, so I'm sure he's got some unexpected questions in store for us, and I've been a fan of Austin's work for years, so it'll be great to hear what he has to say.

collaborative drawings with Tom Eichacker

Last week I spent an afternoon doing collaborative drawings with the awesomely talented High School student, Tom Eichacker. He had sent me a pile of great drawings, mostly made on top of math assignments, utilizing the bleed-through of the pens and markers to make double sided images. I was really inspired by what he was doing. The math is beyond my understanding. We wrote back and forth a few times and finally met up. I love the way collaborative art becomes a visual conversation between the artists. The pieces themselves are a record of how completely different approaches can work together in unexpected ways. Thanks for drawing with me, Tom!

Together gallery opening

I had fun at the Together Gallery art opening last Thursday. The art is Up for sale here: http://www.togethergallery.com/cat_view.php?cat=85 They've got a great selection of prints, art books and zines in the back. I ended up having to buy a beautiful etching from an artist who goes by Doodles. at some point I'll have to post pictures of my slowly growing art collection.